Hall’s Kitchen soups

Ah soup. I could live on soup and sandwiches in the winter. When I am organised, I make my own – a big batch of whatever on Sunday and bring it in to work for the rest of the week for my lunches. Sometimes I don’t have time though and it’s a real challenge to find something that fits my list of requirements:

Must not contain 40% of my sodium intake for the day in one cup;

Must contain a healthy amount of fibre;

Must not contain excessive amounts of sugar;

Must TASTE GREAT; and

May be able to be used at a pinch for a dinner party since it appears to be homemade

Sound like Mission Impossible? Uh huh.

Hence why I was overjoyed last week when Mary Luz Meija contacted me to ask if I would be interested in receiving some samples of Hall’s Kitchen soups. Since I am happy to review products that I would be purchasing myself anyway, I went over to their website to see what they were all about, having not heard of them before.

You can imagine my excitement when I read their mission statement:

At Hall’s Kitchen we believe in healthy, handcrafted vegetarian foods that are made with fresh, wholesome ingredients of the highest quality and prepared without the use of chemicals, preservatives or additives. All of our soups, stews and side dishes are vegetarian, genetically modified organism (GMO) free and trans fat free. All of our soups and stews are also vegan and are made without gluten, dairy, or yeast.

They are an environmentally-conscious, local company using local ingredients making what sound like fab products… I was in!

Mary Luz arranged to have two samples sent to me – the Rockin’ Moroccan Stew (and since we all know my love for Morocco, I couldn’t resist!) and the Bangkok Curry Coconut & Lime Soup. You can see the complete product range (soups, stews and side dishes) here.

The Moroccan Stew look amazing even jus out of the jar. It *looks* homemade. I jazzed it up with some leftover chicken and some herbs for a more substantial meal:

And voilà:

I loved this – the combination of the Moroccan herbs and spices, vegetables, beans, peanuts and currants tasted exactly like a stew should taste. It was hearty and warming. At 210 calories, 8g fat, 160mg sodium, 7g fibre and 7g protein per cup, it’s a pretty perfect lunch in my opinion.

Next up, the Bangkok curry soup. Neil is often leery of products that claim to be “curry” as they are not hot enough for him (remember this is the man who annoyingly will put hot sauce on something I serve him sometimes without even tasting it – grrr – but I digress…) so I was interested to see how this soup would fare.

We added some shrimp and rice noodles to make a dinner out of it and it was pretty darned good…

With enough spice to taste but not overpower the rest of the flavours, this soup is just begging to be paired with chicken or shrimp and noodles for a fast and much healthier option than the local takeaway… This one had more sodium than the stew – 390mg per 1 cup – but still nearly half of canned or package soups.

Will I buy these products? Yes I will. The line is being carried for now in smaller, natural and health food stores as well as places like Fiesta Farms. The full list of stores carrying the line can be found here.

Thanks Mary Luz and Hall’s Kitchen for some wonderful meal solutions this week!

I rely on shop bought soups a lot when I’m busy with work (story of my life right now) or have overindulged and need to rein myself in a little. These look great.. I am still on the hunt for my perfect brand, and can only assume I won’t be able to find these here!